Michael's POV

"That's uh, kinda gay," Jeremy sounded amused, "not gonna lie." I laughed a bit at the comment. I decided to not bring up what exactly caused Connor to hug me, as that would probably just cause Jeremy to go into one of his apology rambles. I could feel myself blushing, if my warm cheeks were any fucking indication. God, I was so fucking obvious when I was not hiding my feelings for my roommate. Speaking of said hug, it had been a few days since then. I gave my best friend a playful glare.

"It was really not, though," I said. "I...." I paused and cleared my throat. "I was talking about something that upset me, and Connor felt it necessary to comfort me. And then he did so by giving me a hug and then rubbing my back. I hardly think he likes me like that, Jer, c'mon. I'm the only one with a crush." Jeremy just gave me a look. He placed down his slushie on his TV cabinet. He looked down at his controller and played with one of the joysticks.

"It's just a uh, thought Michael," he said, still sounding extremely amused. I rolled my eyes.

"Now, can we please stop talking about my crush on my roommate and kill some zombies?" I returned my gaze to the TV screen and tried not to think about Connor too much, as I didn't want to be distracted while killing zombies in a video game. What with, Connor's soft hair, those gorgeous brown eyes, that smile when he laughs or draws...

Aaaaaaand I'm doing it again. Fuck.

I'm so fucking gone.

"Aw, Pwayer One is in wuv," Jeremy teased, earning a glare from me. I turned my gaze to stare at the television, glancing at Jeremy briefly.

"Jere, please don't use the uwu voice." My eye was twitching slightly, even though I was guilty of using the uwu voice too. It had been to tease Jeremy but still, it was used. Jeremy was grinning and I just rolled my eyes again. "Now, as I was saying. You ready to kill some zombies?"

"You know it," he stated and I selected the level. Our characters both loaded, and almost immediately we were surrounded by hoards of zombies. Our conversation lapsed into silence. The room remained quiet for the most part, except for a unified sigh of frustration when the all too familiar 'Game Over' screen appeared. I guess that my best friend took that as a opportunity to tease me again. Jesus, and I thought my moms were bad. He dragged his chair closer. Jeremy didn't say anything, but it was clear from his expression.

"Jeremy," I sighed, and he tilted his head. "He doesn't like me that way." Jeremy smirked and I'd swear he'd be hanging out with Jared Kleinman of all people. The thought of that actually made me bite back a laugh, the improbability of that.

"You don't know that," he stated simply. "But I don't know, that hug you described to me did sound pretty gay. And intimate." I snorted and looked at him.

"Yeah, whatever Jer, and I wouldn't I be the one saying that?" He looked back at me.

"Yeah, kinda. But, you're the one in love. With your roommate."

"I wouldn't say love, Jer. It's a crush, those rarely become anything more don't they? I mean, obviously, I like him. That much is fucking obvious. But there's also that chance that eventually I won't have the same feelings for him as I do now." Jeremy blinked.

"Oh yeah. That's true." It caused me to burst out laughing. Jeremy pouted.

"Did- did you- Jer, what the fuck?" Jeremy didn't answer looking embarrassed. I tried to stop laughing.

~~~

It was 2 pm when I arrived back on campus. I found myself wondering what Connor was up to. It was the weekend, so neither of us had class. If he was back at the dorm maybe we could do something together. I wasn't looking where I was going and then bumped into something small- no, short. I looked down, instantly recognizing him. He'd been in the same room as Jeremy in the hospital, after the situation back in junior year of high school, so how could I not? He had been a former bully though, so I was wary. "Shit. Rich. Hey."

"Headphoneth?" He said, almost immediately flinching. It was as if the 's' changing to a sort of 'ff' embarrassed him. Rich looked up at me. "Headphoneth! It'th nice to thee you-" More cringing, it almost made me feel bad for him. Still, Rich hadn't been the... nicest, in the past. He was the one who caused the whole situation in the first place. Huh, so now I've run into both halves of the Rich-Jake friendship on campus. Funny. That's when I noticed. Rich was wearing an army green hoodie instead of a top that would show off his arms. When Rich noticed me looking, he looked really self-conscious. My eyes traveled up to his face. It was faded, but there was a massive burn scar running down half of face. Before I could even answer, Rich turned around and started to run off. "I... I... gotta go. Thorry, Headphoneth." I stared after him.

The fuck just happened?

Is that why Jake had been acting so weird when I asked him if he made up with him? Does Rich still feel guilt over what he did? And does Jake think Rich is being too hard on himself? Does Rich feel embarrassed by his new lisp and burn scars?

I'm not going to pry, obviously. I'm not that kind of person.

Now feeling thoroughly confused, I started the walk back to my room. That I shared. With a guy. A cute and kinda hot guy that I have a crush on. I paused and shook my head. I then continued walking and opened the door.

Immediately, I was hit with that arid stench of something burning. "What smells like it's burning?" It wasn't a fire smell, more of a, 'I left something in the oven too long'. I heard the sound of a piece of cutlery falling on the counter.

"FUCK!" Connor's surprised and sheepish sounding voice sounded from the kitchen, causing me to giggle. I saw him in the kitchen, his face red, and frantically scraping what looked to be a piece of charcoal bread into the trash can.

"Were... were you trying to cook?" I bit back a laugh but my voice still had an amused tone to it. Connor pouted, it was adorable.

"What does it look like?" I simply smiled at him and then sat down on the couch. Connor was fanning the air, probably trying to get rid of the arid smell. "Whatever it was meant to be, it's no use saving now." I then heard him chuckle a bit, and I just felt my smile softly.

"Yeah, probably," I said. Connor joined me on the couch, and was sitting a little too close to me. I tried not to blush, which was something I found I could actually do, though, there was a slightly warm feeling in my cheeks. I just hoped it was not noticeable. "Anything exciting happen to you today?" Connor shrugged.

"Not really, had a hang out with Evan and Jared. Drew a bit. Not exciting at fucking all."

"What were you drawing?" Connor's expression softened, and it surprised me. He looked so... in love? I kinda wish that he looks like that at me. That is wishful thinking, I know. I'm the only one who has the crush. Connor doesn't like me like that.

"Y- I-I mean, it's not important." Connor's cheeks turned pink. I kinda just stared at him. I threw him a smirk and pushed down the disappointment. Then I realized. Connor stammered. He stammered. It was the first time I ever really picked up on that Connor was acting strange but, I just brushed it off. I mean, he has stammered before, be it, in a different way, but it was still stammering.

"It's cool, Connie. You're honestly adorable when you smile like that."